The sun was shining last Friday and Saturday and so were the women's and men's tennis teams. Opening day was heating up in the Recreation Center on Friday as the women's team defeated New York University and the men's shut out No. 31-ranked Washington College on Saturday.
Sophomore Christina Contrafatto and doubles partner senior Jackie Gavornick defeated junior Erika Olson and sophomore Hayley McLaughlin 8-1. The pair is now 11-2 on the year and still undefeated in dual meets. Contrafatto also won her singles match against freshman Stephanie Tu.
"We are very happy with our girls," graduate assistant coach Keith Glock said. "It was a tough match."
The Lions continued winning all across the board. The No. 2 doubles team of freshman Haley Kutner and junior Kristen Turturiello defeated sophomore Jaclyn Manning and junior Bianca Nicoletti 8-0. Kutner and Turturiello both went on to win their singles matches 6-2, 6-1 and 6-1, 6-1, respectively.
In the final doubles match of the afternoon, junior Karen Shih and sophomore partner Ann Wright served junior Katie Lee and senior Kim Gordon an 8-4 loss. While the duo showed a strong performance, Shih lost her singles match 6-2, 6-1.
The team raised its win streak to nine. The Lions will be in action again on March 17 against Muhlenberg College at 5 p.m. at home.
The men's team had nothing but wins as it won all three doubles matches and six singles matches. The Lions beat the 1994 and 1997 Division III National Champions in the first dual meets of the season.
Senior co-captain Ryan Carty and junior Corey Ball defeated senior captain Tim Riskie and senior Mike Edison by a score of 8-6. That was not the only win for the doubles team that was 20-3 last year. Carty put a win tally in his continuously growing win column of 31. Ball defeated senior Maciek Prytula 7-6 (11-9), 6-2.
Carty defeated junior Arturo Solis, who was ranked No. 3 in the nation. "Carty is a very focused and intense competitor," Glock said. "He works hard on the court at practice and off the court."
Freshman Roger Mosteller and sophomore Mike Klimchak defeated Solis and Prytula 8-5, 8-0. The third doubles team, sophomore Eric Ferriere and freshman Matt Hiznay, beat the freshman duo of Anantha Bhaskar and Rafael Roldan 8-2.
Klimchak has an outstanding single match record of 10-3 and has a two-year record of 32-6 at the College. "This win will help us get to our ultimate goal," Glock said.
Victories in the singles matches came from Klimchak, who defeated Riskie 6-2, 6-4, and Mosteller, who handed Bhaskar a loss with a score of 6-2, 6-2. The Lions will be in action again on Saturday, March 18 at 1 p.m. against Trinity College at home.
